This invention relates to wall enclosures around athletic playing surfaces, and more particularly to a system of interconnected dasher board panels suitable for ice hockey rinks, skating rinks and for soccer fields.
Over the years, a common practice in the construction of skating rinks has been to utilize wooden vertical supports or posts, horizontal, spaced apart wooden frame members between the posts, all usually constructed of 2".times.4", 2".times.6" or other dimensioned lumber, and plywood panels fastened to the uprights and horizontal frame members by nails, screws or the like. This approach is costly as it requires construction of the dasher board system on site. Moreover, the plywood panels are subject to damage due to moisture and temperature extremes in the case of outdoor rinks, and from the physical contact with skate blades and the like typically occurring in hockey games.
In view of these deficiencies, alternative dasher board structures have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,120 (Tippmann) discloses a dasher board system in which the dasher boards are one-piece fiberglass panels, having a smooth front face with an integrally formed border extended at about 90.degree. from the face, and a plurality of bolsters or vertical bent portions for providing stability. The upright end edges of the fiberglass panels are fashioned as tongue and grooves, to facilitate joinder and alignment of adjacent panels.
The rising popularity of soccer, particularly indoors, has created a need for dasher board systems suitable for surrounding soccer playing fields. Such a system advantageously would be interchangeable with hockey and ice rink dasher board systems, to permit use of the same indoor facility for these events, and at minimal change-over cost. It is desirable for soccer dasher boards to provide maximum visibility.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a modular dasher board system comprised of separately constructed, interconnected panels.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved means for supporting the transparent upper shielding portion of the dasher board system, and further in the case of soccer to provide for transparent dasher panel bottom sections in order to enhance spectator viewing.
Another object is to provide a system of dasher panels, for soccer and for hockey, suitable for low cost and convenient installation.
Yet another object is to provide a means for supporting an upper transparent shielding panel of the dasher section in a manner which also facilitates alignment of adjacent panels.